Stay system for bathing suit

ABSTRACT

A loose-fitting bathing suit includes legs that resist riding up on a wearer and yet is comfortable to wear. The bathing suit eliminates the wide, trapezoidally-shaped stays worn on the front of the bathing suit to offer a more natural feel of the bathing suit, and its attendant comfort, while still resisting the problem of riding up. The suit preferably includes a long thin pocket on either side of the suit, and each such pocket retains a long, thin flexibly rigid stay to comfortably hold the bottom of the suit legs down along the thighs of the wearer. Alternatively, the suit may omit the stay in the side pockets, and instead include either of hem stays or inseam stays, or include all of such stays.

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/352,086 filed Jan. 24, 2002.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates generally to the field of swim wear and, more particularly, to inserts for boxer-type bathing suits, as well as board shorts, surf trunks, swim trunks, in fact any type of short pants or shorts designed to be worn in or out of the water.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Many water skiers, wakeboarders, and surfers prefer to wear loose-fitting, boxer-type bathing suits instead of short, form-fitting suits due in part to the comfortable fit of such suits. However, these types of bathing suits may tend to ride up on the thighs of the wearer while he is water skiing, wakeboarding or surfing, and this riding up may eliminate the very comfort sought by the wearer.

[0004] As Cromartie pointed out in U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,273, at the beginning of a ski run as a skier comes out of the water, water pressure resisting his forward momentum tends to cause the legs of a loose-fitting, boxer-type suit to ride up. Usually, the bottom edges of the suit are forced up to points near the junctures of the wearer's torso and thighs. Since the suit is wet, its legs tend to remain bunched up proximate the natural creases between the wearer's torso and his thighs even after he has assumed a normal skiing position.

[0005] When this situation arises, most skiers feel themselves compelled, either due to discomfort or for other reasons, to pull down the front and back of each leg of the suit. This activity, however, necessitates the skier's releasing his grasp, alternately with one hand and then with the other, on the bar of the rope by which he is being towed. Such maneuvers are troublesome even for expert skiers. For beginners and less than expert skiers, adjusting the legs of one's bathing suit can mean losing one's balance. Despite the risk of falling, skiers at all levels of ability still seem compelled to make these adjustments.

[0006] To solve this problem, Cromartie proposed a pair of elongated, trapezoidal-shaped stays insertable into pockets stitched to the insides of the legs of the suit. While solving the problem of bathing suit material bunching up at the junctures of the wearer's torso and thighs, this proposed solution presented several drawbacks. The stay itself tends to dig into the junctures of the wearer's torso and thighs while the user is water skiing and, during vigorous activity tends to abrade the skin of the wearer at the top and the bottom of the stay. Furthermore, the stay presents a wide aspect just at the point of the bathing suit where many wearers like to store personal items when they ski. For these and other reasons, Cromartie's proposed solution to the problem of riding up of the bathing suit is less than ideal. The present invention addresses these and other drawbacks in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] It is therefor an object of the present invention to provide a loose-fitting bathing suit with legs that resist riding up on a wearer and yet is comfortable to wear. Another object of the invention is to provide a bathing suit which eliminates the wide, stiff, trapezoidal-shaped stays worn on the front of the bathing suit, as taught in the art, to offer a more natural feel of the bathing suit, and its attendant comfort, while still resisting the problem of riding up.

[0008] In accordance with the invention, there is provided a pair of stays insertable into pockets stitched to the side seams of the legs of a bathing suit, the pockets having means for retaining the stays in position within the pockets and extending from a point at or near the bottom hem of the bathing suit to a point at or near the waistband of the suit. The stays are made of a flexibly stiff material that bends to conform to the bending of the legs of the wearer in order to be non-obtrusive while performing its function of retaining the legs of the suit down the thighs of the wearer.

[0009] These and other features of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a review of the following detailed description along with the drawing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010]FIG. 1 is an elevational view of bathing suit being worn by a wearer, the bathing suit including a stay according to the present invention.

[0011]FIG. 2 is an elevational side view of the bathing suit illustrating the insertion of a flexible stay.

[0012]FIG. 3 is an elevational front view of the bathing suit illustrating flexibly rigid stays on the hems and/or the inseams of the suit.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0013]FIG. 1 depicts a bathing suit 10 constructed in accordance with one preferred embodiment of this invention. The bathing suit includes a flexibly rigid stay 12 held within a pocket 14. As used herein, the term “flexibly rigid” is defined as the property of the material from which the stay is made in that the stay is sufficiently rigid to keep the bathing suit into which it is inserted from riding up on the legs of the wearer, yet is flexible enough to bend easily with movement of the wearer. It should also be recognized that the stay system of the present invention is adaptable to any sort of short pants, i.e. less than full length pants, although the impetus of the development of the invention was the recognized need in the art of boxer-type swim suits.

[0014] The stay 12, which is long, narrow, such as for example about 0.125″ to about 0.75″, and thin, so that it gently bends with the movement of the wearer. The stay may be formed of a flat, or rounded material, or any appropriate cross-sectional shape, so long as it is flexibly rigid. The stay 12 preferably extends from proximate a waistband 20 at the top of the bathing suit to a point proximate a lower hem 24 of the suit. We have found that having the stay extend for a distance shorter than approximately the vertical extent of the suit can develop unsightly bulges or wrinkles in the suit and can even develop discomfort in the wearer.

[0015] The stay 12 should slide easily into the pocket 14 for ease of manufacture but is preferably sewn into the pocket permanently. As shown in FIG. 1, the stay preferably bends to conform to the movement of the wearer, but is sufficiently rigid to hold a leg 16 of the suit down over the thigh of the wearer, hence the term “flexibly rigid”.

[0016] The waistband 20 may be elasticized or, more preferably, it includes a tie-string or fitted waist 22 at a height above the top of the stay 12. The suit may also include one or a plurality of pockets 18, which in the present invention are positioned away from the stay 12 so that the pockets 18 may be used in the. conventional manner.

[0017]FIG. 2 illustrates the preferred mounting of the stay 12 within the pocket 14 along either side of the suit 10. The insertion of the stay can be readily included in typical manufacturing of shorts or boxer-style bathing suits with little additional cost.

[0018]FIG. 3 depicts an alternative embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the suit 10 may include the stay 12 inserted into a side pocket 14. However, the suit may alternatively omit the stay 12, and instead include one or both of a hem stay 30 sewn into the hem 24 and/or an inseam stay 32 sewn into an inseam pocket 34. The hem stay 30 is preferably a continuous hoop, although it may be formed of a long, thin flexibly rigid material, as previously described, and inserted into the hem in the form of a pocket. The inseam stay 32 also may be formed of one continuous flexibly rigid piece, or the stay may be formed of two separate pieces, one for each leg of the bathing suit.

[0019] The principles, preferred embodiment, and mode of operation of the present invention have been described in the foregoing specification. This invention is not to be construed as limited to the particular forms disclosed, since these are regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Moreover, variations and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. The scope of the invention is therefore defined by the following claims. 

We claim:
 1. Shorts comprising: a. a right leg defining a right side and a left leg defining a left side; b. a first elongated pocket on the right side and a second elongated pocket on the left side; and c. a first flexibly rigid stay adapted to fit within the first elongated pocket and a second flexibly rigid stay adapted to fit within the second elongated pocket.
 2. The shorts of claim 1, wherein the suit defines a waistband and a bottom hem on each of the right leg and the left leg, and the first and second elongated pockets and the first and second flexibly rigid stays extend from a point proximate the waistband to a point proximate the bottom hem.
 3. The shorts of claim 1, wherein the suit defines a waistband and a bottom hem on each of the right leg and the left leg, and the first and second elongated pockets and the first and second flexibly rigid stays extend between the waistband the bottom hem.
 4. The shorts of claim 2, wherein each bottom hem retains a flexibly rigid stay.
 5. The shorts of claim 1, wherein the suit defines an inseam on each of the right leg and the left leg and wherein each inseam retains a flexibly rigid stay.
 6. A bathing suit comprising: a. a right leg defining a right inseam and a left leg defining a left inseam; and b. a first flexibly rigid stay retained by the right inseam and a second flexibly rigid stay retained by the left inseam.
 7. The bathing suit of claim 6, wherein the suit defines bottom hem on each of the right leg and wherein each bottom hem retains a flexibly rigid stay.
 8. The bathing suit of claim 6, wherein the suit includes a right leg defining a right side and a left leg defining a left side and further comprising: a. a first elongated pocket on the right side and a second elongated pocket on the left side; and b. a first flexibly rigid side stay adapted to fit within the first elongated pocket and a second flexibly rigid side stay adapted to fit within the second elongated pocket.
 9. A bathing suit comprising: a. a right leg having a bottom hem and a flexibly rigid stay retained by the right bottom hem; and b. a left leg having a bottom hem and a flexibly rigid stay retained by the left bottom hem.
 10. The bathing suit of claim 9, wherein the right leg defines a right side pocket adapted to retain a right side flexibly rigid stay, and wherein the left leg defines a left side pocket adapted to retain a left side flexibly rigid stay.
 11. The bathing suit of claim 9, wherein the right leg defines a right inseam retaining a right inseam flexibly rigid stay, and wherein the left leg defines a left inseam retaining a left inseam flexibly rigid stay. 